Faded

[Lobos]

FADED

Introduction:

• At first I created this team on a whim because of how boring my traditional team-building goes. I started winning many battles, and lost a couple as well. But through failure-and-analysis, I was able to switch up my team a bit and create this Trick Room team. When it went out it surprised me how well it worked to counter traditional weather teams.

Teambuilding Process:

• Donphan goes first because he acts as support for my team with Stealth Rock and Rapid Spin.
• I follow up with Cofagrigus as to help out as a defensive core for the team.
• Porygon2 is follows Cofagrigus because he acts as a special defense core for the team
• Next, I wanted Heracross because of his physical prowess, and serves as my main core for all physical attacks.
• Magnezone is fits its way after Heracross because of his special attack stat making him my special attacker.
• Lastly, Lucario fits as a last resort, or my late-game-sweeper.

In Depth Analysis:

Donphan (M) @ Leftovers

Trait: Sturdy

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def

Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)

- Earthquake

- Ice Shard

- Rapid Spin

- Stealth Rock

Donphan is essential for my team’s survival, as he plays the role as the “spinner,” which keeps the momentum in my team going. Stealth Rocks are best put in the very beginning as they allow my rack up some damage on the opposing side throughout the battle. Now because Donphan is a supporter doesn’t mean he can’t function offensively. Blessed with a 120 attack stat he’ll leave chunk out a good portion of the opponents health and survive my physical hits with his maxed out defense. Ice Shard allows him to set up some priority differences, and also functions as my dragon slayer as times.

Cofagrigus (M) @ Leftovers

Trait: Mummy

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def

Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)

- Will-O-Wisp

- Trick Room

- Pain Split

- Night Shade

Cofagrigus is truly the definition of a physical wall. Maxed out defenses and an awesome ability makes him essential to my team health. His ability Mummy stops a variety of sweepers and walls. His main purpose is as a Trick Room provider. I also gave him Will-O-Wisp to cripple oncoming sweepers that wish to set-up their attack stat. Pain Split allows him to stay in the game. And Night Shade works greatly for Cofagrigus, as his attack stats aren’t too great to begin with.

0 Atk Tyranitar Crunch vs 252 HP/252 Def Cofagrigus (+Def) : 38.44% - 45.94% (3 hits to KO)

252 +2 Atk Excadrill Earthquake vs 252 HP/252 Def Cofagrigus (+Def) : 58.13% - 68.75% (2 hits to KO)

252 Atk Choice Band Qwilfish (+Atk) Waterfall vs 252 HP/252 Def Cofagrigus (+Def) : 45% - 52.81% (3 hits to KO)

252 +2 Atk Dragonite (+Atk) Outrage vs 252 HP/252 Def Cofagrigus (+Def) : 76.25% - 90% (2 hits to KO)

Porygon2 @ Eviolite

Trait: Trace

EVs: 252 HP / 104 Def / 152 SDef

Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)

- Discharge

- Ice Beam

- Recover

- Trick Room

Porygon2 I could say is the most important member of this team. Porygon2 ability Trace saves the team so much that it frustrates the opponent. Not only does it have a great ability but its stats and versatile too, I happened to make Porygon2 a special wall. With access to Recover, he can keep momentum in the team and set-up Trick Room for my team. The Disharge+Ice Beam combo speaks for it as is counters many teams. You always have the 30% paralyze from discharge, which is mainly used to afflict a damage to Rain Teams. Ice Beam is to counter Dragon Types, and well as Sand Teams that you may usually find like Gliscor and Garchomp.

252 SpAtk Life Orb Kingdra Hydro Pump vs 252 HP/152 SpDef Eviolite Porygon2 (+SpDef) : 44.39% - 52.41% (2-3 hits to KO) [under Rain]

252 SpAtk Chandelure Fire Blast vs 252 HP/152 SpDef Eviolite Porygon2 (+SpDef) : 46.52% - 54.81% (2-3 hits to KO) [under Sun]

252 SpAtk Life Orb Latios Draco Meteor vs 252 HP/152 SpDef Eviolite Porygon2 (+SpDef) : 43.58% - 51.34% (2-3 hits to KO)

Heracross (M) @ Lum Berry

Trait: Moxie

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk

Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)

- Megahorn

- Close Combat

- Earthquake

- Stone Edge

Some light can finally be shed to Heracross as he plows his way through his enemies. I give him Lum Berry, because many times I find him walled against Will-O-Wisp induced foes. I tried to give as much coverage as I could to Heracross, and it all worked out. Equipped with STAB Megahorn, he no longer has to worry about the likes of Psychic foes. STAB Close Combat is his main move, since Megahorn always has a possibility to miss even with a 85 accuracy. I also equipped Heracross with the Edge-Quake combo. Earthquake is the go to move, which normally acts as a filler, because you run the risk of weakening Heracrosses already low defenses even lower. Stone Edge plays as a counter for Flying Foes and Volcarona, but after Stealth Rock you can still go with Earthquake to KO it. To end it he basically acts as the #1 enemy against Sand-Team.

Magnezone @ Choice Specs

Trait: Magnet Pull

EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk

Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)

- Thunderbolt

- Volt Switch

- Hidden Power [Fire]

- Flash Cannon

Magenzone is my special attacker. With gifted defenses and already high special attack stat, I go beyond the limit and give him Choice Specs. His ability Magnet Pull is where everything gets fun, I can trap opposing Steel-type foes and swiftly end them. STAB Thunderbolt gets the job done even if you switch out into a resisted Pokémon. STAB Volt Switch allows me to scout and leave a huge dent on opposing team. Hidden Power Fire is to rid of Ferrothorn and Forrestress. STAB Flash Cannon is needed because it hits where my electric moves can’t affect much, namely Rock and Ground.

Lucario (M) @ Life Orb

Trait: Inner Focus

EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd

Adamant Nature (+Atk, -Satk)

- Close Combat

- Ice Punch

- ExtremeSpeed

- Swords Dance

Lucario always ends up saving the team some way or another. As a late-game sweeper you can never go wrong with Lucario. Equipped with Life Orb he is able to boost his already high attacks. Inner Focus, although not really of much use, still helps if the opponent ever manages to make Lucario flinch with Fake Out or Rock Slide. Close Combat is Lucarios most powerful move, and is almost guaranteed to KO them after Sword Dance. Ice Punch enables Lucario to defeat foes such as Gliscor and is for extra coverage. Extreme Speed is the quickest priority in the meta-game and handles foes that out speed him well. And Sword Dance, after a single dance it’s almost a guaranteed win.

Information about the Team:

• Weakness/Resistance Stats:

http://oi44.tinypic.com/2ikz6f6.jpg

• Team Synergy
  • Porygon2~Cofagrigus
    • They cover each other’s weaknesses greatly. Porygon2 faces the Fighting weakness and Cofagrigus faces Dark and Ghost weakness.
  • Heracross~Magnezone
    • Heracross can come into battle taking the Earthquake that Magnezone crosses with, and can scout from a Volt Switch from Magnezone. As can Magnezone act with Heracrosses with his Psychic and Flying weakness.

Conclusion

• I am proud of this team, even though it doesn’t add up to some of the teams I may have. This team won’t work for some and if not then experiment more with other Pokémon and play around with the stats and move set.

Exportable:

Donphan (M) @ Leftovers

Trait: Sturdy

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def

Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)

- Earthquake

- Ice Shard

- Rapid Spin

- Stealth Rock

Cofagrigus (M) @ Leftovers

Trait: Mummy

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def

Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)

- Will-O-Wisp

- Trick Room

- Pain Split

- Night Shade

Porygon2 @ Eviolite

Trait: Trace

EVs: 252 HP / 104 Def / 152 SDef

Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)

- Discharge

- Ice Beam

- Recover

- Trick Room

Heracross (M) @ Lum Berry

Trait: Moxie

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk

Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)

- Megahorn

- Close Combat

- Earthquake

- Stone Edge

Magnezone @ Choice Specs

Trait: Magnet Pull

EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk

Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)

- Thunderbolt

- Volt Switch

- Hidden Power [Fire]

- Flash Cannon

Lucario (M) @ Life Orb

Trait: Inner Focus

EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd

Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

- Close Combat

- Ice Punch

- ExtremeSpeed

- Swords Dance

[Shanco]

It's a nice team, and definitely away from the boring-as-hell norm these days.

My nitpick is maybe Guts Heracross if you're buildin it slow? Just seems better for more immediate power (if you need to wipe out Chandelure under the Trick Room for example), and leave Moxie for Scarf sets for speed outside of Trick Room.

I'll elaborate more on my opinions later.

[Summer]

Not sure if you can handle ground types but 9/10 overall

[Lord Emvee]

Your team has quite a number of threats without an answer:

Firstly, there is CM Keldeo, which destroys Porygon2, Magnezone, and Lucario with Secret Sword, and destroys the rest with Surf. Furthermore, you have ZERO water resistances, making your team completely weak to Rain teams (which you see being used a lot on Reborn). To fix this issue, replace Lucario for Slowking, which functions extraordinarily well on Trick Room teams by providing extra Trick Room support and possessing the ability to take water hits and counter Keldeo. This switch can also help against other threats, such as Blaziken.

Secondly, you're weak to QD Volcarona. The only thing that can beat it is Heracross only when Trick Room is in effect. This is unreliable, as you have no safe switch-ins and you have to play a game of sac this - switch in this. One possible solution (and the best solution if I do say so myself), would be to switch Magnezone for Heatran. This way, only Volcarona with Hidden Power Ground can beat you, and you'll be completely protected against any other Volcarona. This will also help you against threats such as DD Dragonite (w/o Earthquake), Chandelure, etc.

Last but not least, you're missing 4 EV's on every Pokemon except Porygon2. Fix those. Also run Sleep Talk over Earthquake on Heracross. This is so that you can switch into a Breloom without any worries of getting Spore'd, since you have Sleep Talk. Also change its item to Choice Band, and its ability to Guts. Breloom is an enormous threat to this team that only Heracross can handle, so this change helps your team a lot by allowing Heracross to adapt a lot easier to the situation.

It's sad to see that the other people that commented on this RMT had no real feedback whatsoever. Nevertheless, this team has potential, but in order for that to occur, you must have a way of dealing with the threats; my solutions solve just that. There are of course more threats out there, but you should feel a lot more stable with your team after these changes.

Edited June 7, 2013 by So Heroic

[Zen]

I like to use Air Balloon magnezone with Sunny Day to back the HP Fire, in case of opposing rain with the ferrothorns.

[TheFloorMatt]

The problem I see here is you've got yourself 3 fire weaknesses and no resistances to it at all.

You also have 3 fighting weaknesses, though you do have an immunity. Chandelure can handle lucario/heracross with ease, and can take out magnezone or punch a massive hole in cofagrigus. Calm mind reu can take on most of this team easily except maybe heracross, so keep that bad boy on your team. Venusaur with HP fire in the sun can stop you from setting up trick room entirely with sleep powder if you aren't careful, and can clean up very well.

I personally think you're best off replacing lucario with something.. Maybe a chandelure of your own with sub/CM, giving yourself an immunity to both of the weaknesses I've mentioned, and some free set up (hopefully) for when trick room will inevitably go down. That would bring up another water weakness, however, so perhaps the previously mentioned slowking would be a better choice, by giving you instead a resistance to both fire and fighting, and an included weakness to water. If you decide on chandelure you could possibly replace your cofagrigus with a jellicent, it would retain WoW but give taunt support and more reliable recovery, with the downside of course being.. it's twice as fast as cofagrigus. Oh, and venusaur would have a field day with it.

I agree with previous posters giving heracross guts, as trick room lasts 5 turns, switching takes one, killing takes one, giving you 3 left to actually use moxie with. Idk, maybe it's a bad point, but life orb/choice band with guts will give you more power with a good switch in to opposing WoWs. If you're feeling ballsy you could give it a flame orb as a hold item, and just make it immune to status in general.

Your porgyon 2 and cofagrigus are BOTH walled by blissey, which could be a cause for concern, considering they're your 2 trick room users, and are both vulnerable to toxic. This might not be as bad if you run jellicent, but you would end up having to run some speed if you want to get your taunt off before blissey moves . You can't switch in magnezone, it'll get walled and probably take a flamethrower to the face. You could possibly switch in donphan if it hasn't already died, but other than that your heracross/lucario (The latter of whom I suggest being replaced) will be most likely taking a toxic. All the more reason to run guts on heracross!

tl;dr replace lucario, I personally suggest a sub/CM chandelure, and then replace cofagrigus with jellicent to cover up for the additional water weakness. Maybe run toxic on porygon 2 over one of your attacking moves. Give Heracross guts, and have it hold lifeorb/choiceband/flameorb. This is actually my first time helping out on an RMT, but thought I'd give my thoughts on it!

[Noir]

An interesting Trick Room team. However, Taunt screws your primary strategy. Your fastest Pokemon is your Lucario which has a mere 90 base speed so anything that is faster than 90 base speed could be considered a threat.

Donphan should run an Relaxed Nature so that it takes physical hits better. It's notable that the extra boost from Brave nature isn't as beneficial as having a Relaxed Nature since you don't run much Attack EVs, or no EVs at all. With Brave nature and no Attack EVs, Donphan has 154 Attack in 50s, and 303 in 100s. (I apologize since I'm new and I'm not sure if 50s/100s are more common), the Attack is increased by 14 and 26 something points respectively. The Defense however, has a 17 point increase with a beneficial nature (172>189) in 50s, and a 33 point increase (339>372) in 100s, which is higher than the Attack. Unless you require to take out something noteworthy even without Attack EVs, I find Relaxed nature superior to Brave nature.

3 or your Pokes are weak to Fighting, and 3 to Fire. This means you'll need to keep Cofagrigus alive for the entire match since it is one of your Trick Room sources and your only notable defense against powerful Fighting-types like Choice Band Terrakion. Donphan risks being 2HKOed by Jolly Choice Band Terrakion's Close Combat even after Leftovers, and is always 2HKOed after Stealth Rock, or in the case of your Brave nature, always 2HKOed. Heracross is always 2HKOed by Close Combat even after the resistance and Max HP, so it isn't a safe switch in either. That being said Choice Band Terrakion has the potental to sweep your team once Cofagrigus has been removed.

Cofagrigus is also unprotected from status, although you have 2 Pokemon that are immune to Toxic, and 2 Pokemon that can (somewhat) effectively switch into Scald. The occasional Scald burn chance means Magnezone and Porygon2 aren't going to enjoy the switch in either, which makes them more easier to kill, which is dangerous if the latter is knocked out. Jellicent could be a suitable fit into your team like someone else had mentioned, although Jellicent is a pain in your side as well, since it is one of the Scald users.

Heracross isn't really the ideal candidate of a Bulky Attacker that functions in Trick Room.It's more of a fast, powerful attacker. In this case, I would recommend Machamp or Hariyama, since they have better bulk, priority and access to Guts as well. Despite the fact that Heracross has access to 2 powerful STAB moves and more resistances, I find that Hariyama and Machamp have better movepools and abilities to abuse than Heracross. Both possess the elemental punches that allow it to deal with more physical walls such as Gliscor, Forretress and Skarmory with Ice Punch and Fire Punch respectively. Bullet Punch and Mach Punch are also vital to remove weakened Pokemon such as Latios and Terrakion, and Focus Sash Abomasnow. Since you noted that this team is cleverly used against weather teams, Hariyama and Machamp and abuse Sunny weather set up by Ninetales as well. The former can take Fire hits better due to Thick Fat, and can incinerate Skarmory with a sun-boosted Fire Punch; Machamp can also run a mixed set with Brave nature to use a 100% accurate Fire Blast with No Guard against Skarmory. Did I mention DynamicPunch with 100% accuracy too?

That's all I have to say for your team. Hope my advice was helpful.

Edited July 7, 2013 by YagamiNoir4896